


How Good It Is

by Brekkerenthusiast (DauntlessDreamer)



Series: I'm Yours [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Day of the Dead, Falling In Love, Fluff, Hades is a Good Parent, M/M, Movie References, Phone Call, Romance, Texting, planning for first date, we all know Persephone is a good step mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28941606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DauntlessDreamer/pseuds/Brekkerenthusiast
Summary: “Come on please,” Will persists, “I haven’t seen you in ages and… I miss you”Nico’s face flushes, because this isn’t the kind of “I miss you” delivered to a brother heading off to college, or a mother off on vacation. This is the kind of “I miss you” whispered to someone you care about in the dark when there’s no one else around. Words spoken with overwhelming sentiment and feeling, the kind that admit that there might just be something more, between these two, nervous, teen boys._Set about a month after "Love Is Beginning". Nico begins falling even harder for Will, who tries to convince the other boy to come to Texas for a visit.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Hades, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: I'm Yours [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116068
Comments: 10
Kudos: 78





	How Good It Is

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "How Good It Is" by the Morningsiders. I'm excited about this one, let me know if there are any inaccuracies with the day of the dead and i'll fix it. Also in this series the boys are both 15.

Turning over on his squeaky mattress, Nico notices a faint light on his nightstand. He’d deliberately left the lights off and the door shut to calm himself down, so the light is an irritating disturbance. He debates checking his phone or not. With the rain pattering against his window in a smooth lullaby, and his space heater wheezing out puffs of heat, Nico wonders if it’s worth it to leave his comfy nest. 

Deciding against moving for the time being, his voice croaks in the darkness, “Hey Google, who texted?”

The assistant takes a moment to register before a bland, automated voice response. “Text message from, Will, heart emoji, winking kiss emoji, sunshine emoji, purple heart emoji.”

Nico’s reaching across his bed before Google has a chance to finish speaking, and he’s not even a little ashamed of the childish grin that stretches across his face. After all, no one is around to see.

About a month ago, to Nico’s disappointment, Will returned to Texas for his grade 10 year. Nico never expected to use the number that was programmed into his phone. He figured that soon enough some preppy mortal with immaculate social skills would sweep Will up for a horse back riding date (what do people even do in the south?), and the son of Apollo would forget all about Nico.

But, three days after Will’s departure a notification popped up on his phone followed by a picture attachment and a desperate message.

Will 10:53 pm  
Help pls, ask your step-mother if she knows how to save him.

Nico had expected the worst, save him? Was Will in danger? Instead, he opened the attachment to see a photo of a dead houseplant with Will posing dramatically next to it.

What followed was the sad admission that Will’s plant was probably beyond help. This prompted a series of text messages spanning over two hours.

Over the past month Nico has grown familiar with sporadic texts from Will, and even some phone calls into the wee hours of the morning. Struggling with conversation was a very familiar concept to Nico, but Will seemed to never run out of things to say. That was perfectly fine with Nico.

He loved hearing about Will’s big family, his mother’s country music tour across America, his group of friends at school who were all somehow related, and his part time job at the pharmacy. Normally Nico would avoid sharing anything about himself in favour of not scaring someone off, but lately he’d found himself sharing what it had been like to grow up with his sister, and how this week's tutoring went.

In fact, with the past few days he’s had, Will’s comforting babbling is exactly what Nico needs.

He’d tentatively reconciled with his father, and they’d shared a tender moment where the god of riches explained he wanted true happiness for his son. Nico isn’t really a sentimental person, but perhaps the fact that his father told him this while surrounded by the bones of dead monks had really driven the message home. 

This didn’t change the fact that Hades was the most aggravating and condescending individual Nico had ever had the displeasure of working with. 

As many campers returned home to the mortal world for the upcoming school year, Nico remained at camp. He’s been hard at work catching up on all the education he’d missed, while also redecorating his surprisingly tacky bedroom.

He’d anticipated a comforting routine filled with frustrating English lessons, exciting sparring matches with Butch, and maybe a campfire every so often (which might have something to do with the fact that Will said he had a nice singing voice). Things went according to plan for the first month, he even managed to beat Connor up the climbing wall a couple of times.

But, he found it hard to be surprised when a few days ago, Hades called Nico on his brand new Samsung asking for help. 

“It’s almost November 2nd Nico and in the wake of a major war against humanity, this year might have a little bit heavier of a work load.” Hades had explained.

Having been on his way to the dining pavilion for lunch Nico made an irritated noise and raised the volume on his phone, “And what exactly happens on the 2nd of November, father?”

A disgruntled scoff into the other end of the phone, “How can you actually call yourself the Ghost King and not know what takes place on that day? You’ll have to see and find out.”

And then he’d hung up on Nico, who actually had enough dignity to just ignore Hades. This became challenging when Hades sent Jules Albert to throw Nico in the back of a 1975 limousine and abduct him on his way to the Underworld. 

Over the next few days Nico was introduced to the Day of the Dead. A festival that originated in Mexico, where the living celebrated the temporary return of their deceased loved ones’ spirits. Nico was tasked with assisting his father in chaperoning shades as they returned to watch over their families for 24 hours.

It was grueling work, some spirits weren’t co-operative and others sobbed when Nico tried to escort them back to the Underworld, using transparent hands to try to hold onto humanity. At the end of the day, the smiles he saw from families all over the world, and the proud pat on the back his father gave him was worth it.

However, over the course of the day Nico had also cultivated numerous reasons he needed some time apart from his father.   
1) He kept trying to “bond” with Nico,   
2) They disagreed about the proper way to do everything (Persephone says it’s because they’re so similar), and   
3) he was so comfortable with Nico’s sexuality that he kept trying to talk about prospective boyfriends for his son.

When Hades became more open to spending time with his children, he moved all of them up to a house right behind the Hollywood sign, with premium access to the Underworld. So that was where Nico was now, laying on his ridiculously expensive bed and looking out at the rain.

So, with achy muscles and in a frustrated mood, Nico picked up his text from Will and wondered if maybe the gods did look out for him sometimes.

William 8:17 pm

Call?

Nico takes a look at the time stamp standing next to Will’s message and feels a fluttering in his heart. LA and Will’s hometown have a two hour time difference. So, the fact that at 10:17 pm Will’s probably tucked under a thin comforter, in a trashy, Maroon 5 t-shirt and pajama pants, thinking of Nico makes him a little giddy.

Rolling onto his side and turning down the offensive brightness on his screen, Nico’s thumb hits the green call button. He turns the speaker on and lowers the volume, setting his phone on his chest and waiting for the familiar click of Will picking up on the other end. 

Instead he’s assaulted by an outburst.

“You will NOT believe the day I’ve had!” Will shouts into the receiver.

Nico chuckles lightly, “Probably not, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyways.”

He hears Will sigh and his bed creak as he rolls over on the other end of the line. For a minute, Nico imagines what it would be like to share a bed with Will, to sleep next to him, have their legs curl around one another in the night. Will’s always warm, (he runs around in cargo shorts even after it’s dropped below 15 degrees celsius) so Nico thinks he’s probably the kind of guy to toss the covers off as the night goes on. That’s okay though, because Nico’s always cold, bundled in a sweater and socks as he climbs into bed. It would be so nice to have Will’s arm thrown over his own as they slept. Then, he blushes and banishes the thought.

“Well you know how I was telling you about that huge church banquet that’s hosted at the beginning of every month?” Will starts.

Nico nods his head before remembering Will can’t see him and responding with a quiet “Yes”.

Nico’d been surprised when Will told him his neighborhood was really religious. Of course he’d heard of the sometimes “extreme” faith of people in the South, Chiron had just had him read “Inherit the Wind”, so he’d gathered that people in that part of the states often had fairly reserved values and beliefs. Though, Will told him that his family knew of his sexuality and were accepting; after all, they all knew his mom had slept with a god.

Nico didn’t know it was possible to be… well, like him and still be religious, Hazel reminded him that things are different now than they were when the two of them were little. It made Nico yearn for Christmas mass with his mom and his sister, for a small wedding in a big church.

Will continues, “Well today’s banquet was held so they could get all the families together and update the parish photo albums. So we got all dressed up, and I even helped Olly pick out a tie while mom did Lizzy’s hair.”

Nico stays silent while Will gathers his thoughts. He can’t imagine having as big a family as Will, but between his mom, step-father and his seven half-siblings, they had a full house. Even before Nico had run away and lived on his own for such a long time, it had only ever been him and Bianca. Will told him that he can’t imagine spending all summer with a cabin full of siblings and then going home and being lonely, so Nico supposes that makes sense.

“Well, when I stepped into the photo, the photographer - Mrs. Green - told me ‘only the immediate family please’ as if just because Wes isn’t my biological dad, I couldn’t be in the photo.”

Will’s told him stuff like this before, how people around town throw insults wrapped in comments that border on the edge of snark. “Congrats on the new little brother Will, too bad your own dad couldn’t stick around’ or “oh you’re not into girls, pity no one will ever get your beautiful blue eyes.” 

It makes Nico angry because they both haven’t made it through two immortal wars, a series of monster attacks, and the average life of a demigod just to put up with this stuff. Nico, thinks people deserve to live the life they want with the family they choose, even if that means being a 70 year old teenager, with self-esteem issues and a resurrected witch who can form diamonds with her bare hands.

He takes a deep breath before forming a response, “Jeez that’s terrible Will. I’m sorry people suck, say the word and I’ll off them for you.”

Will responds quickly, “As much as I appreciate the fact that you’re willing to kill for me death boy, the day turned out better than I planned.” 

With Nico’s silence he continues, “My mom got so mad at the photographer and caused a huge scene. You think I get my theatrics from Apollo, you’re wrong. The lady ended up giving us three free photography sessions at her studio.”

Nico doesn’t really think that makes up for the photographer's absolutely insulting decorum so he questions, “If you get treated like this in a place you call home, why don’t you stay at camp more often?”

Will is quick to defend. “I mean I’ve only really told you the worst stuff, Neeks. My hometown is the greatest, we live outside Austin in this little village called Elgin and even though it’s small I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” 

He can hear Will moving around in the background before continuing, “I have a great idea! Why don’t you come visit and I can show you around!”

Nico imagines it, walking with Will through the streets of some little village, experiencing tourism in a way he hasn’t been able to since he came back to camp. Maybe they’d even watch a movie - one of these newly released films Will always talks about like Henry Porter? Or maybe that movie Teen Girls, that Will mentioned in the summer.

“So what do you say?” Will’s voice breaks through his thoughts. “Come to Elgin - we have a few swing sets, a church, a couple baseball diamonds and even a Dairy Queen.”

“I’m lactose intolerant, so if there’s a Dairy Queen I guess I can’t come,” Nico proclaims jokingly.

Will barks out a laugh on the other end and it’s contagious. “Bullshit, we both know I’m the one who’s lactose intolerant, but I don’t let extreme nausea and stomach cramps get in the way of me having a good time.”

Nico laughs into the receiver, and runs his hands over his face in a tired and distracted way. Leave it to Will to bring him from frustrated and cranky, to elated and happy within a few minutes.

“Come on please,” Will persists, “I haven’t seen you in ages and… I miss you”

Nico’s face flushes, because this isn’t the kind of “I miss you” delivered to a brother heading off to college, or a mother off on vacation. This is the kind of “I miss you” whispered to someone you care about in the dark when there’s no one else around. Words spoken with overwhelming sentiment and feeling, the kind that admit that there might just be something more, between these two, nervous, teen boys.

He thinks of the last time he’d seen Will: golden girls tumbling across his forehead in the afternoon sun, tanned freckles flanking his dazzling blue eyes. His hands still cold and damp from the coke bottle he’d finished minutes before. When those hands had taken Nico’s own callused, rough one’s between his own and squeezed them like a lifeline.

Nico finds his heart beating comfortably at the memory, and he’s suddenly filled with an overwhelming desire to see Will. His friend. His partner in crime. His crush.

“Ya, okay.” Nico stutters out with a choked voice filled with emotion.

"Awesome!" Will exclaims. "I have to work until six o'clock on Friday but after that we should meet up, does that sound good to you?"

Nico thinks about the past couple days and the few hundred desperate shades who had escaped him and his fathers' grasp after being brought back to the land of the living. Surely they'd have to spend the next couple days collecting the spirits still unfairly roaming the earth.

But, Nico deserves a break godsdammit. He'll just explain to his father that he has plans Friday night. If Hades insists on making him work, Nico will call in Persephone for reinforcement. Gods know she's a sucker for good romance stories, well, judging from the fact that Pride and Prejudice is at the top of her Netflix list.

"Ya, Friday sounds good, how about 7:00?" Nico asks.

"Sure that will give me enough time to shower, change, and come up with a plan to absolutely wow you," Will responds.

While attempting not to think of Will in the shower, Nico busies himself with the thought that this is starting to sound an awful lot like a date.

Nico couldn't be happier.

There are days where Nico wants Will to confess his love for Nico with a whole song and dance number, to pull him close and bring their lips together.

Then he remembers the fact that he only recently came out of the closet and is still overcoming years of self-hatred and loathing. That most days he still doesn't understand the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality.

Add on the fact that he's never had experience with friendships let alone a relationship. 

There is also the small detail that Nico has never done anything remotely romantic with a boy... not even a kiss. 

Though the fantasy is nice, if Will actually tried to kiss him. Nico might spontaneously combust. 

So, planning what sounds like a date, but is concealed as a friendly get together is exactly what Nico needs. No pressure. It's just one more thing Nico admires about Will, that he's willing to take things slow. 

"So I'll give you the address of the place you should shadow travel to. Would that work or do you need to be able to visualize it?" Wills asks. 

Nico remembers when he had first gone shadow travelling with Percy. All it took was for Percy to whisper the location in Mrs. O'Leary's ear and they were off. 

"I don't know," Nico confuses. "I've never tried it before, but it will probably work, it would help if you described what the place we are going looks like."

Will hums into the receiver. "Well, let's keep that as a last resort, in order to be wowed you need to be surprised, so I don't want to give away all the details just yet."

Nico's heart swells with emotion. No one has ever put this much effort in impressing Nico before. 

Sure, his father gifted him a zombie chauffeur, but that was out of guilt and obligation. 

Here was someone doing everything they could to make him happy just because they wanted to.

The phone call between the boys goes on until the clock next to Nico's bed reads a static looking 9:45.

Will hears Nico try to conceal a yawn on the phone and he whispers "go to bed Will, I'll be here in the morning for you to complain to."

Will lets out a huff of laughter before agreeing to go to bed and saying a sleepy, "seeya Neeks, sleep well," before hanging up.

Now, in his quiet room, with the curtains drawn and no one around to witness it, Nico rolls over on his belly, turns his face into the pillow, and lets out a squeal of delight.

Grin nearly breaking his face in two, Nico bites his lip and thinks about how lucky he is.

Last year he couldn't imagine a life where he lived long enough to finally finish puberty. But, here he is - fifteen, with a roof over his head, a quasi-normal education, and talking on the phone to a hot, confirmed not-straight, boy who wants to impress him.

He should be cautious. Nothing this good ever lasts. Not with his mom. Not with Bianca. Not at Westover or during his first time at camp. 

But, he can't find it in him to care. Gods hope he doesn't lose this before it's even begun.


End file.
